BOTTOM LINE
Sugar-Coated Middle-Class Saga for Easy Viewing
PLATFORM
ZEE5
RUNTIME
2 Hours (7 Episodes)
What Is the Show About?
Amid mounting family pressures, Sanjay Kataria takes on a case on behalf of gangster Pushpendra Tyagi. His brother Ajay pushes to redevelop their ancestral home. His daughter Naina navigates college life in Mumbai, while his son Bunty dreams of a future in cricket. As Sanjay’s ailing father suffers a health crisis, tensions explode. Will the Katarias put aside their conflicts and reconcile?
Performances
Rajesh Tailang plays the burdened, frustrated middle-aged common man quite convincingly. Sheeba Chaddha holds her own even when she is not handed lengthy dialogues, using simple glances and a show of warmth to convey what the written material cannot. Tanya Sharma and Aditya Shukla lighten up the proceedings in their subplots. Parvinder Jit Singh is adequate as the gangster.
Analysis
OTT and television are probably among the only mediums left for Hindi audiences craving middle-class representation. While Hindi cinema increasingly encourages binaries, riding on sophistication and milking penury, violence and sex for storytelling, the story of the compromising average citizen is still miraculously deemed worthy of the small screen.
While Sony LIV’s Gullak offers a comforting fantasy of small-town life, ZEE5’s Bakaiti is a far more grounded portrait of mundanity in the country. Avoiding easy nostalgia, the show, arguably a Hum Log equivalent for our times, returns for a new season centred on the Kataria family, whose members face pressing new priorities.
Sanjay Kataria feels the pinch as a breadwinner torn between professional compromises and domestic pressures. The kids are growing by the day. Naina is a young adult, finding her feet at college in Mumbai. Bunty is no longer a small boy, harbouring a crush on a neighbour while pinning his hopes on a cricketing career.
Sushma continues to lend support to the family with her homegrown boutique and tailoring jobs. The Kataria patriarch’s tryst with dementia worsens, and time is running out on the decision to give their ancestral house for redevelopment. The tension between the Kataria siblings mounts, even as the women try to douse the fire.
The show’s first season felt relatively fresh, keeping viewers guessing while leaving them satisfied. Bakaiti Season 2, though, does not enjoy the luxury of being an underdog. The job now is to ensure a natural progression of established characters through newer, grounded conflicts that the Katarias somehow find a way to tackle.
The creators handle this transition fairly well. The focus remains on how the family stays united despite mounting tensions and differences. Amid professional challenges, Sanjay occasionally sidesteps family priorities, while, on a lighter note, both his children, Naina and Bunty, navigate their own budding romantic interests.
There is a nice stretch about Naina’s identity as a Ghaziabad girl finding it difficult to adapt to the ways of Mumbai, overwhelmed by the company around her. The bittersweet sibling equation is not softened beyond necessity. Watch out for the scene where Naina lashes out at Bunty for not planning their father’s birthday party properly.
The chai handed over to Sanjay every day at home, along with the evening conversations, serves as an indicator of the fluctuations in the domestic environment. The playful dynamic between the London-returned cousin and Bunty, with both interested in the same girl, keeps the proceedings light-hearted now and then.
The thread around Sanjay representing a local gangster, Tyagi, for a quick buck, even if it eats into his conscience, is something you expect in Bakaiti, for it strives to show that the common man has a strong ethical stance while tampering with it for a livelihood.
What also does not quite add up is Bunty’s restlessness to make progress with cricket. The subplot is not built convincingly enough to persuade us of his drastic move to arrange a bribe to make it to the local team. His uproar against Sanjay, terming himself the ignored sibling, does not feel earned.
The shifting views on the sentimentality attached to the ancestral home are well documented. Both daughters-in-law view houses as friends, which are not always for keeps and change over time. The heartfelt chat between Sanjay and his father over a moonlit evening about the house in the final episode strikes a chord too.
By the end, the domestic and professional issues are ironed out and the seed for a new season is sown. Though the instalment could have done better to mirror the changing order in modern-day families with respect to gender dynamics and financial decisions, it remains quite watchable within its supposedly orthodox cocoon.
Bakaiti Season 2 is a feel-good, watchable family drama focusing on little pleasures and the tensions of simple living, delivered with crisp episodes and relatable writing. It may not offer anything new, but it goes about its job with earnestness, making it ideal for clean, family viewing over a weekend.
Music and Other Departments?
Given its simple aims and limited focus, the job for technicians in shows like Bakaiti is predominantly to deliver on the basics without interfering with the material much. There is not much scope for the music to make an impression here, though it ensures a smooth flow in the proceedings. The cinematography, amidst limited backdrops, is decent, and the crisp episodes enable easy viewing.
Highlights?
Easy, feel-good watch
Neat performances
Lively characters and relatable domestic conflicts
Drawbacks?
Does not offer anything entirely new
Mostly consolidates on the work done in season one with minimal plot progression
Easy resolution of issues and sugar-coating of middle-class struggles
Did I Enjoy It?
There is nothing much to complain about. It delivers what it promises.
Will You Recommend It?
If light, relatable shows on middle-class life interest you, go ahead.
Bakaiti Season 2 Hindi Web Series Reviewed by M9 News
